Visual Migraines

So....I don't know if it is just me or if anyone else has these visual migraines that make your vision so blurry that it looks as if you are looking through dirty fogged goggles...Does this happen to anyone else and is there any medication that I can take to help aleviate these symptoms?  My doctor gives me Maxalt but says that by the time the visual migraine kicks in the medicine won't work.  I don't get the severe headaches that I used to get as a kid so I never know when they are going to happen.   Any recommendations would help.

Thanks,

Cat

Hi There,

I too get these visual migraines and they are the worst. The only thing that I have found that seems to help a tiny bit is Advil Liquid gels Migraine. Do you ever get any speech impairement or numbness with blurry vision???

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful,

Teri

I used to get what my doctor called ocular migraines, but it's just where I get like a spot in my vision is really blurry and weird, and sometimes it makes me a little nauseaus or makes my eyes feel strained if I keep trying to look at things. They've never been very bad so I never looked into any sort of treatments for it. I don't really get them much anymore.

i get them too.  mine take the form of aura that starts in my peripheral vision and moves toward the center, sometimes only on one side, but typically on both (sometimes i feel a little nauseated, but i think that's as much anxiety as anything, because i worry that this is the one that turns into a full-blown migraine).

i've never taken anything for it, and don't intend to.  my trigger--almost always--is moving between bright sunlight and shade.

Do you work on a computer at all? I find that I get these only when I work on my computer a lot.

I looked it up, and it's part of a syndrome called Computer Vision Syndrome, which is basically fancy speak for 'the computer screen is killing your eyes'.

Eye strain, headache, swimming/foggy vision all happen with me during these migraines.

If this is the same with you, then get away from your comp, wear protective eye glasses, get a stronger prescription if you wear contacts/glasses, and try to turn down your screen a bit.

If not....wow, that bites so hard :( I have no idea what to say.

I get the visual migraines that you described but I take it as an indication a full blown migraine is approaching.  I almost always vomitted.  I take Maxalt at the first possible sighting of the visual impairments.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Last year, when they were becoming very frequent the doc put me on a daily pill, a very low dose of nortriptylin.  It took about 3 months to kick in but (knock on wood) I haven't had a full migraine since.  I still get a little bit of visual stuff going on every once in a while but they haven't led to the dreaded.

BTW, I do dim my screen and it does help with the strain on my eyes.  That said. I don't really see my computer use being a trigger.  Or food for that matter.  My CC food log helped determine that.  I actually think mine is a chemical imbalance.  My cycle is definitely linked in there somewhere.

Have you seen a neurologist?  Had a CAT scan?  There are alternatives to taking Maxalt as a last-ditch effort.  Docs can sometimes help to figure out treatments for your migraines that don't involve a "rescue" medication (Maxalt/Imitrex/the like).  Some migraine sufferers find that a beta blocker (a prescription medication usually used to regulate blood pressure) can provide prophylactic relief.

It's important to figure out your triggers, which can be foods, stress, hormones, or environmental factors like the moving between light and shade that pgeorgian described.  Keeping a food journal can help you to figure out any commonalities on migraine days, and that's something you're likely used to doing as a calorie counter.

Incidentally, the frequency of my migraines has been greatly lessened by getting off oral contraceptives - mine were very hormonally influenced.

Original Post by purespark:

...or environmental factors like the moving between light and shade that pgeorgian described. 

for awhile i thought my friend becca was to blame, because every time we hung out together, i would get one.  then i realized that we were "hanging out" when we went on field trips together (she was a teacher; i was a school counsellor), and i would sit sideways on the school bus, facing her, while the sun shone between the trees ;)

"You're giving me migraines!"  Ha.

No, in all seriousness, that's the same trigger that my mom has (strobe-like sunshine or bright light), and it's given me at least one migraine too.  Sunglasses can help with that one.

yeah, i know.  my best friend gets very serious (hemiplegic) migraines.  when i tried to describe that bus scenario to her, she had to make me stop, because just hearing me talk about it was triggering for her.

my first one was almost 20 years ago, while spring skiing.  same scenario: repeatedly going between bright sun (and snow) and shade.  scared the crap out of me.  ever tried downhill skiing with no peripheral vision?  it sucks.  i've also had them while moving; just going in and out, packing furniture and boxes.

i'm fine in uninterrupted sunlight, though; yay!

I normally get them at work, and nearly always on days when I have class afterward.  I got one last Wednesday, had to stay at work for an hour with it because I get such bad visual disturbances (blind spots that shift from peripheral vision to directly in front, squiggly/wavy distortion, white flashes) that there's no way I can drive.  I went home and hid in bed for a few hours, but I had an exam later that night, so I had to get up and drive to school for it.

Thank goodness I only get them every couple of months now.  It used to be at least once a week and sometimes twice.

Well I work in an office as an office assistant so there is no way around the computer.  I will try to darken the screen.  I was on two different pills for awhile.  One was blue and the other orange.  The orange one was a beta blocker, I think it was propranalol (or something like that) and the blue was amitriptyline (which is generally used for depression in higher doses but I took it to help with the not being able to sleep side effect from the propranalol)  Basically...it didn't help me sleep, tasted like black licorice and my doctor then put me on a low dosage of Xanax to help me sleep.  He also took me off that beta blocker.  I'm a bit OCD....not as bad as I used to be and have a hard time managing stress....so maybe the anxiety is the issue.  I don't like being on something as addictive as Xanax as my family has a history of drug and alcohol abuse.  I cannot take birth control because my gyno refused to put me on it when I told her of the visual migraines....so it shouldn't be a hormone thing unless mine are out of whack.  My gyno also said I would neet a CAT scan before she would allow me to get back on it because my symptoms could be signs of blood clots and birth control could potentially cause me to have a stroke if that were the case.  My insurance at the time didn't cover the CAT scan (expensive to pay out of pocket) but I might go get one now that I am married and have better insurance (yay!)  So I have always thought the high stress from the OCD makes me get these stupid Aural migraines.  They have been a million times worse lately and I am sure stress is to blame...they went away for a few months but now are back in full force.  I will look into that computer vision syndrome as that sounds like exactly what I have....Thanks for all the input!!!

Cat - stress can definitely be a trigger!  Again, keeping a journal can help with that - if you start to get a visual migraine, write down [when you are able] what had been going on with you that day.  Things like job duties, deadlines, personal stressors (note whether you got enough sleep the night before, too).  Maybe you'll come up with a commonality that you can try to work on to reduce your stress levels.  Maybe try relaxation techniques, like meditation or yoga?

Hope you're able to get the CT scan or MRI, if only to rule out any issues!  If you have good insurance, do see if you can get a referral to a neurologist.

Good luck!

Hi. I have suffered from migraines on and off for about 10 years, and for the past 7-8 or so they have been accompanied by visual disturbances. Mine usually take the form of a wavy, zigzaggy, crescent shaped rainbow line that starts more towards the center and expands and moves outward on one side until it disappears from my peripheral vision. They are almost always followed by a migraine about 15-30 minutes after the onset of the aura, but not always. Sometimes I get numbess in various parts of my body as well. I take exedrin for the pain but I've never found anything that helps make the aura go away...just time. They are very stressful and can be very scary!

I used to get both painful and visual migraines.  They went away after menopause and I never get them now.

The visual ones involve seeing colored haloes around lights and seeing jagged circles, like the edge of a bottle cap, kind of like when you get spots before your eyes from a flashbulb, but this strange shape.  There was no pain. 

Both kinds would last until I slept for a while. 

I've gotten migraines since I was 11 or so.  The best thing I can think of is to start making a migraine log- write down what you've eaten that day (and the day before), emotions, stress, weather, etc.  By identifying common things that occur nearly every migraine you can define your triggers.  (Mine are potato chips, pepperoni, barometric pressure, and hormones, just to name a few.)  Once you know your triggers you can avoid them.

I've been to a couple of doctors about it.  Mine are labled "infrequent" bascially meaning I'll never know when one comes on, so I can't take preventative medicine.  One doctor put me on Imitrex, which I hated.  The other told me to drink more caffine (since it is not a trigger of mine- but beware, it's a common trigger for others) and put me on 500mg of Naproxene Sodium (roughly 2 Aleve) to take when the migraine comes on.  This is the only solution that has somewhat worked for me.

Basically a migraine is your blood vessels constricting really hard, thus causing the aura/visual disturbances, and then they inflame and open really wide- which causes the pain and nausea and all the other fun stuff.

Original Post by lena123:

Hi. I have suffered from migraines on and off for about 10 years, and for the past 7-8 or so they have been accompanied by visual disturbances. Mine usually take the form of a wavy, zigzaggy, crescent shaped rainbow line that starts more towards the center and expands and moves outward on one side until it disappears from my peripheral vision. They are almost always followed by a migraine about 15-30 minutes after the onset of the aura, but not always. Sometimes I get numbess in various parts of my body as well. I take exedrin for the pain but I've never found anything that helps make the aura go away...just time. They are very stressful and can be very scary!

Oh wow, I thought I was the only one who had a set number of minutes until the aura goes away.  Actually you just described my migraines to a T right down to the cresent shape.

We're migraine twins!  Dunno if that's a good thing. :D

I have had migraines since I was a kid....probably about 8 or 9.  I used to be exactly like you two and would have 15-30 minutes of visual disturbances (It would be like holes or missing patches of vision...like I was looking through a piece of swiss cheese...haha) which would only go away if I went and napped for 30 minutes in a cold cold cold dark room.  The headache would follow (usually lasted DAYS) and I mean this was a THROBBING pain where it felt like someone had struck me over the head with something.  I honestly, do not get those anymore.  Now I just have this annoying foggy vision that doesn't go away with sleep, or xanax or anything.  I would try the food log thing but it's pretty much something that happens on a daily basis....usually just my right eye, more frequently its been both.  I would almost rather have the pain than the blurred vision....it's quite scary.  I thought I was going blind at first. 

I had my first migranes very young. I think the onset was at puberty, which makes me think that part of mine is when hormones fluctuate etc.  I had them real bad back then, I never really made the correlation with the puberty until the past few years.  In my 20's or so I would only have say one or two migranes a year. In my mid 30's I started to have them more and more frequently and when my female troubles worsened so did the frequency of the migranes.  I don't believe that the hormone imbalances or fluctuations were  or are the only causes but it does seem to trigger them sometimes.  More recently I have had one about 2 weeks ago, and coincidentally also this morning.  I got to thinking, my boobs are really tender right now, ok. well I have had histerectomy but they left my ovaries, therefore I am still having those fluctuations in hormones( and am not on any hormone replacement as yet. when I get my onset It starts visually with the auras, mine look like little fans turning ( similar to what others in this thread have described. they get worse, until I can barely see, but It does warn of oncoming migrane.  the visual last 30 mins to an hour then followed by hellatious migrane lasting hours.  the one this morning I was able to ward of the migrane by taking aleve when I realized the visual was occuring.  It started when I was asleep.  I have still had that _headache hangover- all day and lucky me had appt to get teeth cleaned. ugh. did it anyway since getting another appt anytime soon would be out of the question.    when I get the visual I have to get some where and lay down, or get someone to drive me. I can not drive when they happen. luckily I have never been to far away from home when they happen. I know when the visual comes on that the headache is coming quick.  I have never tried any of the migrane meds. I thought when I got my histerectomy that  they would end. still I am plauged occasionally..... good luck

Original Post by cat_alsaid:

So....I don't know if it is just me or if anyone else has these visual migraines that make your vision so blurry that it looks as if you are looking through dirty fogged goggles...Does this happen to anyone else and is there any medication that I can take to help aleviate these symptoms?  My doctor gives me Maxalt but says that by the time the visual migraine kicks in the medicine won't work.  I don't get the severe headaches that I used to get as a kid so I never know when they are going to happen.   Any recommendations would help.

Thanks,

Cat

I get them, but I see flashing light which is really irritating and makes me want to throw up.  I hate them.  I get less and less as I get older.  I can't see through the flashing lights either.  Anyway, they were never able to give me anything to make them go away.  Nothing worked for me just getting older helped.  They last one I had was about a year and a half ago and it only lasted a few hours.

Original Post by dirktwolf:

Original Post by lena123:

Hi. I have suffered from migraines on and off for about 10 years, and for the past 7-8 or so they have been accompanied by visual disturbances. Mine usually take the form of a wavy, zigzaggy, crescent shaped rainbow line that starts more towards the center and expands and moves outward on one side until it disappears from my peripheral vision. They are almost always followed by a migraine about 15-30 minutes after the onset of the aura, but not always. Sometimes I get numbess in various parts of my body as well. I take exedrin for the pain but I've never found anything that helps make the aura go away...just time. They are very stressful and can be very scary!

Oh wow, I thought I was the only one who had a set number of minutes until the aura goes away.  Actually you just described my migraines to a T right down to the cresent shape.

We're migraine twins!  Dunno if that's a good thing. :D

 NO, we are migraine triplets!  I have the same thing.  I never heard of anyone else who had them.  I called them shimmering triangles.  Ugh I hated them.  Be a little over a year since the last one and the thought scares me.